9. On the Run

Remus was not released for several days, forcing Lyall to have to leave to explain to Hope what had happened. The suspense must had been killing her. It seemed to relieve Hope when he told her that Remus was okay. Alive, but not exactly well. He did not have to explain what was going to happen to Remus. Everyone knew what happened to one after they were bitten by a werewolf.

Lyall was kicking himself. He wanted to kill himself, steal a time turner and undo what he did. He knew who the werewolf was. He'd never forget those eyes. The eyes that looked at him at the corner of the picture of the werewolf gang in the paper. The eyes that looked back at him in the courtroom after he said that werewolves were soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death. Now Fenrir Greyback had gotten his revenge. Now, Remus, his own son, was one of them.

Lyall sat at Remus's bed side for as long as he could before he needed to go back and report to Hope, since she couldn't enter the hospital. Remus was to be released in a week. The bite was deep and since he had gotten to the hospital quickly, they were able to stop the bleeding. But there was no cure to what he was going to have to face every month for the rest of his life. It shattered Lyall's heart. His son, an innocent child cursed with this condition. And what really made him angry, was that he knew that it was his fault. All because of what he said.

But no matter, little Remus stayed optimistic. Maybe it was because he didn't know exactly what a werewolf was, but when he returned home after his time in the hospital, he was all smiles. On the other hand, Hope and Lyall were worried sick. The full moon was nearing and they had to figure out what to do, how to prepare. If Lyall remembered correctly about werewolves from school, Remus wouldn't transform to be a huge, fully fledged wolf since his human form wasn't fully grown. But never the less, he would still be dangerous and would have to make proper precautions. He considered constructing a sort of cage in the woods and putting a few unbreakable charms upon it. Perhaps it would work.

When the evening before the moon rose came, it was a rather eerie time. Lyall and Hope made side glances at each other as they approached their son, playing on the rug in the middle of the living room. My goodness, he didn't know what was coming for him.

Lyall told Hope to stay behind at the house that night. If something went wrong, he didn't want her being bitten. He had enough to worry about. So when he told Remus to follow him, he lead his son out of the house, across the backyard and to the forest. What did not help the situation from being less depressing was seeing the stag and his mate standing in the field, watching them as they disappeared into the shadows.

"Where are we going, daddy?" Remus had asked.

"Just follow. Its okay." Lyall replied in his most happy voice, not knowing what else to say. When the reached the small clearing where Lyall had a small steel cage built, it was rather awkward. How was he supposed to do this?

"Okay, Remus. Get inside here. We're going to play a game."

"Okay, daddy," Remus said as he walked into the cage, his father locking the door behind him reluctantly. "What are we going to play?"

"Lets play I spy. It should be fun out in the woods, shouldn't it?" Lyall said as he sat at the trunk of a tree close to the cage, whispering a spell under his breath to charm the cage.

"Oh, yes! Can I start?"

"Of course," Lyall told him. Remus paused and looked around.

"I spy a tree," Remus said with a giggle. Lyall smiled, considering that they were surrounded by trees. Lyall spent the next few minutes trying to figure out which tree Remus was referring to. Finally he got it. "Your turn!"

"Okay... hmmm. I spy, a boy named Remus," Lyall said. Remus laughed.

"Daddy that's me!" Remus giggled. At this moment the sun must had disappeared behind the horizon because the forest got suddenly dark.

"Oh, that's right!" You're turn."

"Hmm, I spy a star!" Remus said. Lyall looked up to spot a bright star appearing in the darkening sky over head. The night was coming.

For many more minutes the two of them went back and forth, picking out certain objects around them to use in the game. It was now completely dark in the forest, except for an oncoming, pale, eerie glow. Remus looked around him for his turn.

"I got it!" He smiled as he looked up. "I spy the moo-" There was a sudden pause. Lyall became rather alarmed, sitting up a little straighter. It was happening. Remus's scream rang through the trees as he was bathed in moonlight. Lyall was forced to do nothing but stand idly by. There was nothing he could do. Just sit and watch as his son went through the most painful transformation.

"Daddy, help me-" His words were cut off by a growl. Lyall saw Remus's limbs lengthen, fur bursting from his body, and finally, when he turned, there was no longer a human face but a wolfs. A little gray wolf. Only his eyes seemed to maintain some similarity to Remus's old form, but Lyall knew that though the eyes were the same green, they did not recognize everything the same. The little wolf stood still in the cage, staring daggers at Lyall.

Lyall stood a little taller and took a step forward. "Remus?" He called rather hopefully. But it was useless. Remus peeled back his lips in a snarl that was interrupted when he suddenly tilted back his head in a long howl at the full moon. Lyall knew that back at the house, Hope was hearing this too. And he knew that there would be a tear rolling down her cheek just as there was one rolling down his. A horrified, sickened tear knowing that this was how there son was going to have to live for the rest of his life.

That morning when Lyall had to carry Remus back to the house was the walk of shame. His son, after attempting countless times to lunge at Lyall, had began gnawing on himself. Lyall, who refused to fall asleep that night, had the worst time watching Remus do that to himself. But he couldn't stop him. The last thing he wanted to do was cast a stunning spell at his own son.

He had patched up his wounds as best he could with magic, but obviously needed more attention back at the house. Hope took him in immediately, taking Remus from Lyall's arms and carried him up stairs. She ran a hot bath for him where she washed all the dried blood and dirt away from his body. Lyall did not join her, but was forced to listen to the cried and whimpers coming from Remus, probably the pain of his fresh wounds.

Lyall sat like a lump in his favourite chair as Hope was upstairs freshly clothing Remus. Lyall did not like to admit it, as he pictured just how tired his son must be, but he was exhausted as well. He needed to be at work in four hours, but decided that he would not go. Just today, though he couldn't every full moon. There was another obstacle that they had to try and swerve: having people becoming suspicious. And Lyall missing work the night after every full moon was an easier way of doing that. But they could not ask more of Remus. The boy would surely be exhausted for the next day or so. The transformation, added with a night of no sleep, was no walk in the park. Come time when he started school, Lyall and Hope knew that people would soon become suspicious with his absences. All it would take was one person with enough common sense to check the calendar to see exactly what time he disappeared every month. So Lyall and Hope were prepared with what their life would be like from here on in. A life on the run.

And that was exactly what it was. Months turned to years, but they did not go by as swiftly as they used to. Remus grew like a normal child, but his parents almost wished he didn't. This only meant that his werewolf form would become bigger, stronger, more vicious and that resulted in making it harder for him to be contained and his injuries becoming worse.

Twelve times a month. That didn't sound too bad. But though the transformations were brief and were spaced out over twenty seven days, that time as a grace period seemed to be eaten away, and in no time, the moon was waxing and nearly full once again.

Remus, obviously, had found his fathers old Astronomy text book and flipped to the page on the moon cycles. Remus was ten years old now and required no help in reading or understanding. He excelled at it. Soon, he had every phase memorized and now often commented on how the waning phase was his favourite. And Remus did not comment on it, but, besides the full moon, Lyall and Hope knew that the new moon was his least favourite. The time when a new cycle was starting, the moon began growing and his time before the next transformation ebbed away. Remus got rather emotional. Sometimes he would get upset, others he would just sit, and stare at nothing, as if in a trans.

Remus had moved countless schools over the years and never had time to make any real friends. And though Lyall's job was busy and had decent pay, they could not move houses every time Remus switched schools. Instead, Lyall apparated Remus to any abandoned street near his school every morning so no one would see. There for, they could remain at the same house. The location was perfect for raising a- a werewolf. It was remote and the trees offered great shelter.

Remus had been top in every one of his classes. No matter what the teacher, or school. Everyone seemed to like him. He had never reported being bullied. And Remus was also doing a fantastic job at concealing his magic. There was only one hiccup once when the lights were off in his class while he was trying to read and accidentally flicked the switch on from across the room. But no one realized that it was his doing except Remus himself.

He had just recently finished grade five and there was only one thing on Lyall's mind. His Hogwarts letter. It had arrived a week ago.

"Is this Dumbledore man, the headmaster, out of his mind?" Hope had asked Lyall the night after the letter arrived addressed to Remus.

"Well he obviously can't go. There is no way he could stay there all school year without containment at the full moon. Half the school will have been bitten!"

"Yes, Hope. Keep it down you don't want to wake him." Lyall frowned at what he was about to say next. "And yes... He can't go. Perhaps I'll just teach him magic on my own..."

Throughout the next few weeks, flocks of owls of every species came piling in the window every second with another letter from Hogwarts. Each one was an acceptance letter for Remus with a list of supplies. At this point Lyall and Hope could not hide them from Remus. They knew that he understood. Lyall noticed this as they were walking across the field to the forest at sunset. His son was extra depressed in what seemed like the walk to hell. He knew that this was why he couldn't go.

After the night when the two emerged from the forest, they saw that Hope was stirring in the dining room area through the windows. Remus was walking on his own now. Though it looked as if he could use someone to lean on as he walked, he refused any help. He said that he needed to learn how to handle himself on his own. This made Lyall proud. But no werewolf could handle themselves while under the influence of the moonlight.